Venus Is Made Up Of Fruit Salad And Mars, Frozen Dinners?

As if there weren't enough to warrant a "battle of the sexes", a recent study added some fuel to the fight. According to a news report, a study of American dietary behaviors accomplished by both state and federal health officials has revealed some pretty interesting results. The results found that American men are meat eaters and American women prefer to keep it in the garden, meaning they have a preference for fruits and vegetables. This really "confirmed conventional wisdom", according the article. The more bizarre findings were that men had a preference for vegetables like asparagus, Brussels sprouts and peas. They also consumed items such as frozen pizzas, frozen hamburgers and frozen Mexican dinners, maybe suggesting a knack for the convenience side of things. On the flip side of the menu, women were the ones found choosing eggs, yogurt and fresh hamburgers. Another study note was that men had a tendency to opt for food choices that carried a higher risk of contamination that could lead to illness such as runny eggs and undercooked meat. The study found that women in all their wisdom made only one poor choice in that area: alfalfa sprouts. This research was presented by Dr. Beletshachew Shiferaw, an Oregon health official, on Wednesday March 19, 2008 to a panel of disease experts in Atlanta, Ga. Other information from a separate study presented was a national increase in food-borne illness associated with leafy greens based on 10,000 outbreaks reported between 1973 and 2006. In the first ten years, they found that two percent of the out breaks were caused by leafy greens. In the next ten year period, that number increased to four percent, and then in the remaining time period, increased to six percent. The increase in percentage was not due to the number of greens consumed, but due to the increase in food-borne illness found in leafy greens. It seems that the "hunter" and the "gatherer" label seems to have some validity after all.